Major League Jerk

"Now Prince, don't be greedy. Let's pass it along and make sure everyone gets a piece."

Spirits were high in Milwaukee yesterday.  They had just came off a game in which their rent-a-hoss CC Sabathia had pitched 9 innings in victory and they had former ace Ben Sheets going tonight.  Ned Yost and JJ Hardy were both celebrating birthdays.  JJ, the oldest of the core of young Brewers players turned 26 while the coach turned 53.  Yost, who wears #3 on his uniform to honor his late friend Dale Earnhardt celebrated with a giant Race Car cake.  CC and Prince were seen high fiving and giggling when they realized they would get some cake.  While spirits were high in the clubhouse, Chris Capuano also “celebrated” his 30th birthday while recovering from his second Tommy John surgery in Arizona. 

 Away from Miller Park, a ceremony was being held dedicating a statue to The Fonze from Happy Days.  Henry Winkler even got to throw out the honorary first pitch at the game.  The ceremony also included Penny Marshall who played Laverne on Laverne and Shirley.  During the broadcast of the Winkler and Marshall were seen signing autographs.  Or, they were both available but no one seem to want an autograph from Marshall who directed “A League of Their Own” because of her love for baseball.  I wonder if she’s ever read MLJ. 

On the field, things didn’t work out as planned for the Brewers.  They lost 5-2.  Sheets gave up 5 runs in his 6 innings pitched.  The damage was done with 2 swings of the bat.  Michael Bourne hit a 2 run triple in the third inning to tie the game at 2-2.  Then Geoff Blum put the ‘Stros ahead in the 6th with a 3 run homer to right center field with 2 outs.  Sheets has gotten little or no run support lately.  In his last 4 of his 5 losses, the Brewers scored 5 total runs.  Brian Moehler pitched 5 and a third for Houston and struck out 4 Brewers to get the win.

Elsewhere across the Majors:

Spencer’s Game of the Night:  Indians 9, Royals 4:  Grady Sizemore homered for his 28th home run of the year in the victory.  Anthony Reyes picked up his second win after getting traded from St. Louis at some point.  I’m sure it was covered extensively on this here website.  Luke Hochevar, who got the loss, left the game with tightness in his ribs before throwing a pitch in the sixth.

Intern CRM’s Game of the Night:  Marlins 6, Giants 0:  Marlins Ace Ricky Nolasco pitched a complete game 2 hitter for the Fish while our Intern watched tentatively from fat camp.  He was the first Marlins pitcher to go the distance in almost 2 years.  He even helped himself out with a 2 run double.  Jorge Cantu had 2 hits including a solo home run.  Catcher Jeff Baker had 3 hits and an RBI.

Chief’s* Game of the Night:  Rays 4, Angels 2:  In front of a huge crowd of almost 16,000, the Rays beat the best team in baseball for the second night in a row.  James Shields picked up the win for Tampa while his brother/cousin/no relation** Scot Shields got the loss for the Angels.  Vlad homered and scored both runs for the Angels.  Tampa got runs off of an infield single from BJ Upton, a walk from Carlos Pena and a 2 run single from Aybay.  Tampa holds the best record in baseball after last night. 
* Chief is my buddy who just recently got called up from the Rays AA to the AAA team, the Durham Bulls.
** Not Related

PKI’s Game of the Night:  Twins 13, A’s 2:  Last night in UTL, PKI said “Gallagher is going to blow the Twins away tonight. I just have that bad feeling” referring to former Cubs prospect Sean Gallagher.  He gave up 10 runs in just 5 innings pitched while striking out 0.  Talk about your all time backfires.  Kevin Slowey struck out 12 in 7 innings for the Twinks.

Donnie Wahlberg’s Game of the Night:  Red Sox 7, Orioles 2:  I remember hearing Donnie Wahlberg call up a radio show one time and cursing up the storm causing Jim Rome to freak out.  Rome said “You can’t say that on the air” and Walhberg replied “I don’t give a faaaacckkk.”  I respect this so he gets a game of the night.  Dice-K struggled to get through 5 innings mainly because he walked 5 guys.  Yet somehow, on a below average night, he managed to pick up his 15th win.  Dice-K continues to get the job done in Boston and somehow we’re not hearing about it every day.  Does ESPN realize maybe we don’t all care about the Sox?  Daniel Cabrera got the loss for Baltimore.  Varitek hit his 10th homer of the season in the game.